Akwai Agada Akwai Cham become 24th King of the Anyuak Kingdom

(POCHALLA) – On April 25, 2012 the Anyuak Kingdom crowned Akwai Agada Akwai Cham and become 24th King of the Anyuak Kingdom. The ceremony took place at Royal compound in Otalo village in Pochalla County of South Sudan’s Jonglei State.

King Akwai Agada Akwai Cham replaces his brother, King Adongo Agada Akwai Cham, who died in November 2011 in Nairobi. The entire Anyuak Kingdom was eagerly waiting for this ceremony to take place since November 2011.

The ceremony was witnessed by hosts of dignitaries including two representatives of US Embassy in South Sudan, some high ranking South Sudan government officials and Anyuak who came all the way from Canada, USA, UK and Kenya.

Two US Embassy representatives were welcome by the community and honored them by slaughtering bulls and they let the US Embassy representatives jump over the bulls.

The two US Embassy representatives presented three gifts from the Embassy to King Akwai Agada Akwai Cham and they thanked the Anyuak community for keeping their kingship alive, and also they gave encouragement words and thank the King for accepting the call from Anyuak Community to come back home to lead his people.

The ceremony was follow by typical Anyuak traditional dance (“buul”). At this phase of the ceremony everyone was welcome to join in to show his/her best performance to their partner.

The dance has three different stages: “Awawa” shows the girls in a curved or straight line with the drum at the back of the line, youth running jumping, dancing showing their best to the girls. The dance leads into“Achanya” one of the stages of show off. Later the girls choose their partners and they always go for the best performer. The group is then mixed. This is “Okama”. The girls and the youths sing to each other love notes incorporated into the general song.

King Akwai Agada Akwai Cham is a US citizen and South Sudanese by birth. He uses to enjoying world network communication in the US. But from now on he will be off network for a while, because Pochalla County is one of the counties that don’t have net-work communication, very remote, poor infrastructures, lack of social amenities, no health facilities and few NGOs activities.

Here are few pictures taken during the ceremony  

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PaanLuel Wël

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PaanLuel Wël is the founder and editor-in-chief of PaanLuel Wël Media Ltd, a news website that covers news, opinions, analysis, history, culture and literature of South Sudan and the world. Founded in July 2011 by PaanLuel Wël to create a platform for free expression and constructive dialogue, the website features articles from various contributors, including columnists, commentators, poets, authors, activists and academics. PaanLuel Wël believes that media can play a vital role in informing, educating and empowering the people to participate in nation-building and social transformation. He also believes that media can foster a culture of dialogue, tolerance and diversity among different communities and groups, and hopes to inspire and mentor the next generation of South Sudanese writers and journalists.

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